Mississippi History & Genealogy Notes

Monday, September 25, 2006

Seymour Family of Gulf Coast Area Book Available

Mississippi Gulf Coast Genealogy - The Seymour Family by Brother Jerome Lepre, S. C., Brother of the Sacred Heart, + 9/19/1998, Perfect Binding with Softcover, 457 pages, indexed by last name on several separate pages, The earliest known documented evidence of the exact origin of the Seymour family is the marriage between Genevieve Baudreau of Pascagoula and Charles LeBlanc of Pennsylvania, son of Thomas and Perrine LeBlanc. No contemporary documentation during the period l780 - l790 disputes this. The marriage record had been in the author's holdings, but he did not know who Charles LeBlanc was. It remained dormant for years in his possession. The marriage between Charles and Genevieve was held in St. Louis parish church of New Orleans on l September l783 and presided over by the famous, or infamous, "Pere Antoine," the Rev. Antonio de Sedella, a Spanish Capuchin priest. (SLC, MB4, #l55). Jean Baptiste Baudreau dit Graveline came to the Mississippi Coast with Iberville in l699. He immediately became a planter, a cattle owner, a cattle breeder and a mentor to others who settled here. Born on his dad's plantation in the West Pascagoula area, grew up there and eventually married Catherine Vinconneau of France. They had four children, one of whom was Jean Baptiste III. This Jean Baptiste III built up a liaison with Mary Louise Fayard of New Orleans and had a family of five children, Jean Baptiste IV, Margaret, Angelique, Genevieve and Francoise. The first three always used the name Baudreau, the other two, because of the non-marriage condition of their parents, used the name of their mother, Fayard. It is the daughter, Genevieve, who interests us here because she was to become the wife of Charles LeBlanc, and, together, the parents of St. Cyr Joseph LeBlanc, alias Seymour. This Baudreau family has permeated the Gulf Coast with its descendants under various names. Only one known child was born of the marriage between Charles LeBlanc and Genevieve Baudreau. His name was St. Cyr Joseph LeBlanc, born in l788, as noted on his tomb in the oldest section of the Biloxi cemetery near the beach. It is stated by a great granddaughter of St. Cyr Seymour II, last child of St. Cyr Joseph LeBlanc, that St. Cyr J. LeBlanc was an only child; although there is a tradition that there were two boys. No evidence known supports a second son. St. Cyr was a fisherman and, with a large group of boys around, he, no doubt, took each of them at times to let them learn about that kind of work, but it seems quite probable that each of the boys would settle on land, raise a garden, take care of livestock, make charcoal and other wood products for sale. Marie-Josephe died in l876, probably at the home of St. Cyr. She was buried in the old Biloxi Cemetery near the beach. These two old people were truly patriarch and matriarch of a huge descendance, certainly close to 20,000. What a tribute to them and to those who are their progeny. Cost is $38 (US) Shipping add $4.00. Contact Darnell Lepre, 11105 Pin Oak Drive, Biloxi, MS 39532, Phone: 228-396-2811, email: lepreda@cableone.net

Long Absence Explained

Some of you may be wondering why it's been over a month since I've posted. I've been having some troubles with my computer overheating and shutting down so I've simply not had time to stay online long enough to locate great items to add. I hope to return to this as soon as my laptop returns from the repair shop. I hope to return to blogging regularly when it comes back. They've got a part on order so I hope it won't be long.

If you have an item of historical or genealogical interest to Mississippi researchers, please contact me at lorithor AT yahoo DOT com (replacing the capitalized words with the appropriate symbols). Please make sure to include a subject line with the word Mississippi in it.